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Monday, January 19, 2009

Eggless Banana-Nut Muffins ~ Just for You!!

Couple of days back,I was chatting with a young friend of mine about this blog.I was amused when she said that she has cooked up most of the Paneer dishes that I have posted here.Amused because I never knew she could cook and then secondly,she has not left any comments on my posts!!!But I felt happy that she tried.

I met Nirmala aka Chutki as my cousins friend.It was just a hi-bye kind of thing.She was a friend of my bro too and when she was in Chennai for a while,we met couple of times.The first and foremost thing that I liked about her is her confidence.I’ll explain why.She was a CA aspirant and had topped her foundation tests.She had not written the CA Inter along with her classmates,she waited for a while and then wrote.When I asked her why,this is what she had to say-“I want to pass both Inter and Final exams in my first attempt itself and right now am not prepared,I’ll write the exams when I am fully prepared”.I was mighty impressed and here is the update-she did as she said and is a CA now,passed in first chance.

I told her I’ll make a sweet dish just for her.She said she wanted something either made with Paneer or something with Cheese or Cocoa.I had bookmarked a recipe for Choco-chip muffin from Nigella Lawson’s website and checked out the video too.But I made Eggless Banana-nut muffins instead(read on to know why).

When I made Banana Loaf,I had decided that next time,I would try out an eggless version.I searched for it and landed at Saffron hut.At least 3 or 4 links I followed had the same recipe.I decided it must be quite successful and popular then and went ahead with it.I absolutely loved it and so did my friends whom I shared the muffins with.With just the right sweetness,a distinct banana flavour and crunchy nuts in between,this one’s a keeper recipe and I can see myself making this again soon..

Preheat oven to 180*C.
Line muffin pan with muffin paper cups .
Mash bananas well,add sugar and melted butter.
Sift the dry ingredients together and then add to banana mixture.
Add the chopped nuts.
Mix just enough to bring everything together
Fill muffin cups about ¾ to the top.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Bake for 20 minutes or till the muffins are golden brown.
This makes 12 large muffins.( I got 15)

I made these muffins for Nirmala to celebrate her achievement.Three cheers to her confidence!!!So this one goes to Alka for her Just for you event.

Choco chip muffin sad story – I set out making these muffins keeping my laptop in the kitchen counter to ensure that I don’t miss any step.I watched the video and did everything step by step.I tasted the batter,it was fine and the first few minutes,it smelled nice too(in the oven).After a while,when I checked on it,I saw that the muffins had risen and then collapsed and it did not make a pretty picture.I waited till it finished its baking time and when I took it out I instantly knew that it would go down in my hall of fame..er.. shame.It was everything that a muffin shouldn’t be..very very hard crust,almost batter-like layer at the bottom and a hollow kind of look..to say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement.I feel sad for my precious choc chips that went in,I had added extra to ensure that it become some more chocolatey...well.I still don’t know what went wrong.Two reasons that I think could have gone wrong-

1.I should have added powdered sugar which would get mixed in the batter easily and would not have formed a crystal crust kind of a thingy at the edges.
2.I should have creamed the sugar along with the wet mix.

One more thing,I should have guessed its outcome from the video itself coz it did not show the end product!!!

Disclaimer - I watch Nigella Lawson's show on TV quite religiously and I like the way she presents each recipe.I got a disastrous result with the Muffin recipe,but that does not mean in any way that this is a bash-Nigella kind of thing.I got unlucky perhaps..!!

It's so sweet of you to prepare muffins for your bread...and what a co-incident..I have made banana cake y'day :-)...okie here is some more co-incident...I have bake two cakes ..one of which got burnt on the top...I guess it was due the less quantity of base...or may be due to high temp ..it was on 250C..okie..when I have baked banana cake before I had same problem which you have mention...try whipping the batter for longer till it become like whip cream....I have done the same y'day and the bread was very soft...

Divu, shall I surprise u? I read this precisely 1 hr ago, baked wt my young (3yr old boy) asst :D n he had this yum muffin! Since I had only 2 ripe bananas, I just used 1/4C butter+1 1/4C maida..7pcs-15mins...rest all same..its good to taste ..tks for sharing!(This is the fastest tried recipe as in..u posted, I read n baked!Shd make u happy, right? I m v v happy as well!)Oooo the pleasures of baking!:) :)

Tried out your banana nut muffins..turned out great! I usually make cakes and muffins with eggs but I had really ripe bananas lying around and no eggs at home. This recipe is a keeper. I am saving it.Thanks a lot. I also make banana carrot bread and they taste great so maybe you can try that next time..oh and I switched the walnuts with almonds and chopped them up in my chopper and mixed them in to the batter.